Not for all who had betaken themselves into these cities was the refuge safe and secure, but only for those whom the Lord had commanded [to be] safe there. And these were [those] upon whom that [clause] of the text of this chapter (v. 3) falls: “Whosoever shall kill a soul unawares.” Often in the Scriptures, by Synecdoche, “soul” is put for “man”; and “striking [percussio]” not for any kind of beating or wounding, but for slaughter and homicide. For so [a] man “makes souls” (Gen. 17:5 — i.e. persons); [a soul] is blotted out and perishes
(col. 1209)
[…continued from col. 1208.] the soul is blotted out and perishes from the people (Gen. 17:14; Lev. 8:20). And the name of “striking [percussio]” extends broadly indeed (Exod. 21); yet from the circumstance itself [it] can be understood, when [it is] either unto death, or short of death — as in this place, so that no other sense is available. But because (v. 3) “the avenger of blood” is added, we understand slaughter — or certainly a striking of such a kind that, even if death had not yet [actually] followed from it, nevertheless death seems near and certain. And this [is] less ambiguous in the Hebrew text, where the striker is called “rothseach,” that is, “one who kills.” And so, among the Latins, “percussor [striker]” is also used [to mean] a murderer — and indeed even a hired [assassin], but by a milder name, as Cicero said [in the speech] for Roscius of Ameria; in whom (bk. 4, to Atticus) “to strike the mind” is to cast in fear, just as, in Lucretius (bk. 1), “The hope of praise has struck the heart with a sharp thyrsus [goad]” — that is, rouses, urges, [and] goads [it]. Yet not for every striker was flight into these cities safe, but [only] for him who struck “unawares” — or, as [it] is in the Hebrew, “by error and without knowledge.” For hence [it] comes, that he struck involuntarily, or “ἀκουσίως [akousiōs],” as [it] is in the 70. Therefore no access [was] here, no security [was] granted to voluntary [deliberate] homicides, none to those who had committed adultery, inflicted rape, [or] perpetrated any other crime. For to all these, due punishments [were] appointed, from which neither a city, nor a place, nor any other thing, could snatch [them] away by [right of] asylum. Exod. 21:12 & 14: “If any man kill his neighbor on set purpose, and by lying in wait [for him], thou shalt take him away from my altar, that he may die.” And Num. 35, v. 16 to 22. But what if someone had killed a person voluntarily [deliberately] — yet [while] defending himself, and repelling force by force? Him the cities of refuge received; and from them, [he] could depart whither he pleased, after he had been absolved by the judgments [sentences] of the Judges. So [says] Tostatus, q. 5. For privileges are to be extended [broadly interpreted]. But if anyone committed a slaughter in the cities of refuge themselves, he did not enjoy that refuge. The same Tostatus, q. 19, 20, 22, 25. But cities of this kind were granted [for these ends]: First: that [there] might be some help and protection for innocence. Secondly: that the Lord might make provision [for showing] how seriously homicide was to be inquired into and punished. Thirdly: that the matter [fuel] of the anger, grief, and vengeance of the kinsmen of him who was slain might be withdrawn. Fourthly: that the occasion of new quarrels or slaughters might be taken away. Fifthly: that [it] might be a figure [type] of penance [repentance].